“Lectio Divina”
©2013 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
My Friends,
I love this method of prayer, I have used this method privately throughout my 30 years of ministry. Lectio Divina is an incredible, blessed slow prayerfully meditative way to spend time in scripture; followed by us spending our time resting in God’s love within His Words. This ancient method of prayer was developed back around 300 A.D. It was originally began to help internalize Scripture creating an intimacy with God. Till this day many still pray in this most blessed simplistic way. Furthermore listen to the words of Saint Gregory.
“…to know the heart of God through the Word of God.” ~St. Gregory the Great
Preparation
We should prepare for a time for Lectio in a similar way as to how you prepare for prayer time. Allow all of this to slowly develop together. You can easily spend 15 minutes to an hour once you begin, it’s completely up to you.
Read / Lectio
(Listening) Read the scripture very slowly, two or three times and notice what word or phrase speaks to you. Say to yourself, what am I hearing? What keeps popping out at me as I read this passage?
Meditation / Meditatio
(Repetition) Then repeat the word or phrase over and over you feel is speaking to you and allow it to sink into your heart, are you noticing thoughts or feelings as you continue? Are questions building up inside you, questions that touch your life? Consider this though, how is this word or phrase touching me?
Prayer / Oratio
(Listening) Listen for what you are feeling that the Lord is saying to you now through His Word. Ask God for the grace of this teaching, embrace this into your heart and make this your prayer.
Consider these questions to ponder:
·
What new spiritual
insights are beginning to surface in my Spirit?
·
What am I hearing
God say to me?
·
Is this new method
of prayer affecting how I will pray now?
·
How shall I respond
to this?
Contemplation / Contemplatio
(Rest in the Word) Quietly sit there and trust fully in God. Embrace what is happening to you. God loves you and only wants the best for you.
What to do now?
Continue these thoughts throughout your day, or at least through the balance of your prayer time. Lectio Divina is the nourishment of prayer. Another most blessed way to understand this is that we are the vessels in Our Lady’s hands; and in her hands we are waiting to receive God’s Mercy and Grace that flows from Jesus’ wounded side to our hearts. Mary is very significant in our experience of Lectio Divina.
“And so, he who is the primal Fountain of life, full in himself and filled with himself, gushed forth in the secret places of the heavens about Him, to fill them all with His favors. And having endowed the remotest heights and recesses, He burst upon our earth, saving men and beasts, multiplying His mercies everywhere. When He had first filled up the secret places, His teeming mercies billowed over; they poured upon the earth and drenched it, to multiply its riches. You must imitate the process. First be filled, then control the outpouring. The charity that is benign and prudent does not flow outwards until it abounds within.” ~St. Bernard
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
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